Golf course fairways require constant grooming to ensure a good playing surface. Traditionally a tractor pulls a sod plugger periodically over the fairway. The sod plugger aerates the turf by punching holes in the turf thereby creating sod plugs also known as sod cores as a by-product. The sod plugs are dirt cylinders about three inches long. They may contain grass, roots, rocks, clay, and thatch. These sod plugs must be removed in order to play golf. The sod plugs are composed of valuable top soil.
Traditionally the sod plugs are either raked up manually, swept up by a powered sweeper, cut up, or left on the ground. It is desirable to recycle the dirt back into the lawn. Sometimes they are further processed into mulch by hand methods or running lawnmowers over them. These methods are time consuming. Additionally, the sod plugs must dry out before sweeping is possible due to the sticky composition of the dirt and clay mixture in the sod plug. Sometimes valuable playing time is lost using these methods.
The present invention solves both the problem of losing valuable playing time and the loss of the dirt compost from the turf. The plug mulcher is towed directly behind the sod plugger during the aeration process. The sod plugs are captured directly from the sod plugger into the plug mulcher. The plug mulcher then crushes the sod plugs and feeds them into a rotating drum also known as a hammer mill. The rotating drum has spinning hammer blades which pulverize the sod plugs into small dirt particles. The small dirt particles are recycled back into the turf with a spreader.